Ohio teen Mackenzie Shirilla, 19, is found guilty of murdering boyfriend and another passenger by crashing car into a warehouse at 100mph while stoned

Ohio teenager Mackenzie Shirilla sobbed as she was found guilty of murdering her  boyfriend and his friend by driving them into the side of a building at 100mph in what a judge called a ‘mission of death’ that was intended to be payback for their turbulent romance. 

Shirilla, now 19, miraculously survived the July 2022 crash that claimed the lives of her boyfriend Dominic Russo, 20, and his 19-year-old friend Davion Flanagan. 

All three had smoked marijuana before Mackenzie, then 17, got behind the wheel of her Toyota Camry. At 5.30am, she drove at high speed into a corner of the Plidco Building in Strongsville. 

A passer-by spotted the vehicle 45 minutes later and called for help. The two young men were pronounced dead on the scene and Mackenzie, who was unconscious and not breathing, was taken to the hospital where she underwent multiple surgeries. 

In November last year, she was charged with murder, aggravated vehicular homicide, felonious assault, despite insisting that the crash was an accident. 

Prosecutors said surveillance footage proved it was intentional and that she had even planned the route by visiting in her car earlier in the week. 

Shirilla sobbed as she was convicted. She claimed the crash was accidental 

Shirilla’s boyfriend Dominic Russo (left) was killed along with his friend Davion Flanagan (right)

Police and prosecutors argued that she intentionally drove them all into the side of a warehouse in an effort to kill herself and the two boys because her relationship with Russo was so turbulent. 

The judge yesterday branded Shirilla ‘literal hell on wheels’, refusing her claims that the crash was accidental and condemning what she called a ‘mission of death’. 

Surveillance footage of the crash shows her driving calmly and within the speed limit, then accelerating to 100mph as she approached a warehouse building. 

All three were unconscious and not breathing when they were taken from the car.

The two young men died but Shirilla made a full recovery.

Shirilla’s conviction carries an automatic sentence of life in prison with parole eligibility after 15 years.  

This was all that was left of the car after the fatal crash. Mackenzie was pulled from the vehicle unconscious and not breathing, but she made a miraculous recovery

Police said she was on a ‘death mission’ and became ‘literal hell on wheels’ when she sped up

This was the wall Mackenzie plowed into at 100mph  

She was then charged with murder, a claim she denied.

At trial, her attorneys attempted to argue that she had lost control of the car and that it was an accident. 

Prosecutors used surveillance footage of her driving completely in control before the crash to disprove their argument. 

As she was found guilty yesterday, Mackenzie sobbed at the defense table. The judge, however, showed her no mercy. 

‘She morphs from a responsible driver to literal hell on wheels as she makes her way down the street. 

‘Mackenzie alone made the decision to drive the car, to drive an obscure route, a route she visited a few days before, and a route not routinely taken by her. 

Mackenzie, 17, with her then 20-year-old boyfriend. She insisted the crash was an accident 

After the crash, Mackenzie insisted it was an accident. She left emotional tributes to her boyfriend on an online obituary as did her family

Mackenzie was charged in November last year with murder, aggravated vehicular homicide and felonious assault 

‘Mackenzie alone chose a time to make the drive, early in the morning, when any reasonable person would expect a few people would be nearby to witness it or offer life-saving assistance. 

‘This was not reckless driving. This was murder. She had a mission, and she executed it with precision.

‘The decision was death,’ Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Nancy Margaret Russo said. 

An incredulous Mackenzie was visibly shocked as she was put in handcuffs and led away. 

Her family looked equally stunned. 

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley said: ‘The intent was obvious upon seeing that video that there was only one goal and the computer demonstrated that there was no attempt to slow down or stop, that it was full speed into a building and tragically it cost two people their lives.’